DSI Scientific Network Calls Support for Equitable and Open Policy Solutions for DSI

Over 567 individuals and 22 large scientific organizations, and still counting, have signified their support to equitable and open policy solutions for Digital Sequence Information (DSI) through signing the open letter released by the DSI Scientific Network.

According to the letter, the signatories recognize that this is a critical time for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the outcomes of the Conference of Parties in 2022 (COP 15) will influence the use and access to DSI in the coming years. Thus, they call on the Parties to the CBD to:

• Ensure that researchers are given a voice in the process of developing national positions, in the weighing of DSI options, and in formal and informal CBD processes.
• Listen to calls from the scientific community for multilateral benefit-sharing approaches that incentivize the generation and contribution of DSI to the global system.
• Ensure that the outcomes of these negotiations reflect the reality of the scientific process and account for the thousands of interlinked databases that currently serve billions of sequences to millions of users around the world.
• Support open access to DSI. Open access drives research and innovation, improves scientific reproducibility, enables rapid responses to public health crises, facilitates capacity building and international collaborations, and promotes training and education.
• Learn from the experience of the Nagoya Protocol and other treaties, and avoid new systems for DSI that would increase regulatory complexity and costs of research, disproportionately affecting developing countries where resources are particularly scarce.

Visit the DSI Scientific Network website to read and sign the open letter.